The Williams Lake & District Chamber of Commerce is hosting two all-candidates forums this week — one on Wednesday with the councillor candidates and one on Thursday with the mayoral candidates.
The Wednesday forum will be held at the Tourism Discovery Centre from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and is free to attend.
The Thursday forum will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Beeotcheese Bistro & Bakery. The cost to attend that one is $20, which includes lunch. Kudos to the organizers of this week’s forums for getting them going.
We hope that many people will be able to attend both forums, since it’s important voters know exactly what the candidates have to say, as they could be the ones to govern this city for the next three years and make decisions on issues such as taxes, the pool, crime, housing, roads — the list goes on.
We also hope that other community groups come forward and host other all-candidates forums, as has been done in the past, since not everyone can afford the cost (or the time during regular office hours) to attend the mayoral forum on Thursday.
A free forum for all of the School District 27 candidates was held last week and, by press time Monday, there were no all-candidates forums being held for any of the Cariboo Regional District directors.
It’s surprising that more forums have not yet been scheduled but we hope that plans are in the works to get some started.
It’s one thing to even get voters to the polls on Election Day — it’s quite another to equip them with the tools and information to help them make an informed choice. If they don’t know why they should vote for a particular person, why should they even vote at all? And as a reminder, election day is Saturday, Nov. 19. Check the Tribune for ads detailing where and how to vote. And city residents — don’t forget you will be asked via referendum whether fluoride should be injected into the city water system.